Half Dome – Yosemite Musing

As we begin a new hiking season in Yosemite, we are presented with trails that are fresh from 6 months of hibernation beneath the snows of winter. A truly pristine alpine environment. The wilderness experience provides us with a chance to explore the woods with a spirit of adventure.  What ruins it for us are wrappers of Clif Bars, shards of tissue paper and apple cores.  Newbies to the Half Dome hike may not be aware that there are zero trash cans once you leave the valley. Let’s help out casual hikers with reminders that they need to pack out everything they bring in. It’s called “Leave no trace.”  -or- “Take only pictures; leave only footprints.” A zip lock bag is ideal for storing our discards. And the outhouses should not be the dumping place for anything that has not traveled through a small intestine. When trash accumulates in the potties it makes it tough for the bacteria to munch away efficiently at yesterday’s pizza. With 4 million annual visitors to the park it’s easy to imagine that someone might accidentally have an energy bar wrapper fall out of a back pocket.  Surely no one would deliberately toss their trash along the trail. If we all took a vow to pick  up one piece of trash as we hike, it would make for a better day.

Unrelated thought worth quoting: “Everybody’s heard about the Bird.” – The Trashmen

*Mr. Half Dome -Rick Deutsch - www.HikeHalfDome.com*